The Tories are projected to win 314 seats and therefore fall short of a majority at the election, while Labour are winning seats and holding strong in regions previously thought to be vulnerable to the bullish Conservatives.

Speaking in north London, Corbyn said that the Prime Minister had called the election “to gain a larger majority in order to assert her authority”, but had been rejected by voters.

“The election campaign has gone on for the past six weeks, I’ve travelled the whole country, I’ve spoken at events and rallies all over the country and you know what, politics has changed and politics isn’t going back into the box where it was before,” he said.

“What’s happened is people have said they’ve had quite enough of austerity politics, they’ve had quite enough of cuts in public expenditure, underfunding our health service, underfunding our schools and our education service and not giving our young people the chance they deserve in our society.

“And I’m very, very proud of the campaign that my party has run, our manifesto for the many, not the few, and I’m very proud of the results that are coming in all over the country tonight of people voting for hope, voting for hope for the future and turning their backs on austerity."

He added: “The mandate she’s got is lost Conservative seats, lost votes, lost support and lost confidence.

“I would have thought that’s enough to go, actually and make way for a government that will be truly representative of all of the people of this country.

“And so we await the rest of the results, but I can assure you of this, in the new parliament we will do everything we can to ensure that everything we’ve said in this campaign and everything that’s included in our manifesto is put before parliament so that this country can be a different and I believe fundamentally better place.”

Speaking at the count in her Maidenhead constituency, May signalled that she will stay on in Downing Street at least in the immediate aftermath of the election.

"As we look more widely across the country, of course returns are still coming in we have yet to see the full picture emerging, votes are still being counted but at this time more than anything else this country needs a period of stability and if as the indications have shown, if this is correct, that the Conservative party has won the most seats and probably the most votes then it will be incumbent on us to ensure that we have that period of stability and that is exactly what we will do,” she said.

Labour has held onto key seats in the West Midlands and taken high profile scalps in Battersea and Ipswich in the form of ministers Ben Gummer and Jane Ellison.

But the party is projected to win around 266 seats, just under 40 shy of the Conservatives.

Labour frontbencher Emily Thornberry earlier ruled out “any deals” with other parties but said they would look to hold a minority government.